SSR Mining Intends to Hike 2022 Dividend by 40%

SSR Mining (TSE: SSRM) announced Monday its full-year 2021 production and costs and outlook for 2022-24. SSR Mining is a Vancouver- and Denver-based producer of gold, silver, zinc, and tin that owns Argentina’s largest silver mine.

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SSR Beats AISC Guidance

In 2021, SSR Mining’s four operating assets produced 794,456 gold equivalent ounces, delivering a strong fourth-quarter performance of 211,140 gold equivalent ounces and approaching the upper end of the company’s guidance range of 720,000-800,000 gold equivalent ounces. The company’s unaudited all-in sustaining costs (AISC) for 2021 were approximately $982 per ounce (or approximately $955 per ounce under U.S. GAAP), exceeding the AISC guidance range that was previously lowered to $1,000-$1,040 an ounce.

Outlook

In 2022, the company expects to maintain its strong and stable production base with consolidated production of 700,000-780,000 gold equivalent ounces at a consolidated U.S. GAAP AISC of $1,120-$1,180 per ounce. Beyond 2022, SSR Mining expects to maintain a production base of over 700,000 gold equivalent ounces in 2023 and 2024.

The company said that despite industry-wide inflationary headwinds, it intends to increase its base dividend by 40% for 2022 and will continue its share buyback program implementation in 2021.

CEO Commentary

SSR Mining President and CEO Rod Antal said, “2021 was a year of operational and financial outperformance for SSR Mining as we showcased the quality and resiliency of our globally diversified business in an inflation-challenged landscape. We successfully delivered production at the top end of our guidance range and concurrently beat our reduced AISC guidance.

“This outperformance allowed SSR Mining to generate more than $400 million of free cash flow and drove peer-leading shareholder returns of nearly $200 million over the course of the year, resulting in a 5%+ yield. We also executed a number of strategic transactions, which increased our presence in core jurisdictions while divesting non-core assets. When completed, these transactions will cumulatively realize over $235 million in total consideration for SSR Mining.”

Wall Street’s Take

On January 14, BMO Capital analyst Ryan Thompson kept a Buy rating on SSRM and set a price target of $27.00 (C$34.33). This implies 64% upside potential.

The rest of the Street is bullish on SSRM, with a Strong Buy consensus rating based on six Buys. The average SSR Mining price target of C$30.36 implies 45% upside potential to current levels.

TipRanks’ Smart Score Rating

SSRM scores a 6 out of 10 on TipRanks’ Smart Score rating system, indicating that the stock returns are likely to be in line with the overall market.

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